[DrainTree]

If you are heading to Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, etc.
You should get the TB vaccine. I am getting one tomorrow.

TB is common in these areas and multi-drug resistant forms are present.
It is not common to use the TB vaccine in the USA, but it can help protect you during your travels.
It is called the BCG vaccine (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin)

TB takes a long time to cure and can leave your lungs scarred. Worse, you get a drug resistant form and are stuck with it until they figure out which combo of antibiotics will get rid of it.

Just wanted to let you guys know. I didn't know a vaccine even existed until I took medical microbiology this year. Its a nasty disease and there is a vaccine..so why not get it?

[Enfant_Terrible]

Thanks, but it's not entirely effective in preventing TB:

http://www.tbalert.org/tuberculosis/vaccination.php

[Kaizen]

^ ditto. not effective

fact is TB is not very contagious. even if you encounter someone with active TB (unlikely), there is little chance you will acquire it from that one encounter

[Roosh]

Any link detailing foreigners getting infected with TB to foreign countries?

[worldwidetraveler]

(02-16-2012 10:20 PM)Roosh Wrote:  

Any link detailing foreigners getting infected with TB to foreign countries?

I lived there for over a year with no problems. I took buses all the time which can be packed like sardines.

Never heard any problems from other foreigners I met while living there.

[DrainTree]

The vaccine is not completely effective, but it can be 60-80% effective against pulmonary tuberculosis(lung infection). It is however, nearly 100% effective against tuberculosal meningitis(brain infection).


I also lived in Ukraine for nearly a year and didn't catch it, but going back for a second year I'm getting the vaccine.

It depends on your lifestyle- if you stay in a western style hotel, take taxis, and eat at western style restaurants...you'll avoid contact with many things. If like me, you like to blend in to the society and stay with a local family, take the bus/metro 4-5 times a day for work/shopping/meeting people, and shop/eat where the locals do, you might be at greater risk.

Those staying long term in an FSU country are better off getting it, in my opinion and in my doctor's opinion.

[Spike]

I took that shot before i left on my trip. Remember, a couple of weeks after the shot you will get a small wound and it will fester a bit. You'll have to take care of this small wound for a day or 4 and it will leave a scar.

They told me after i took the shot

[Aliblahba]

My shot record looks like the War and Peace novel. If it's a vaccine I've had it repeatedly, everything up to and including the exotic varieties like anthrax and smallpox. Fuck, I'm probably resistant to AIDS at this point.

Sure, the chances of getting TB or similar are slim, but do you want to roll the dice? Just having to put down you've had it on med questionnaires from here on out would be a pain in itself.

Last year I was in a remote location where 100% of the mosquitoes tested positive for carrying malaria. I cried, pissed, moaned, and bitched like a little Greek girl, but took the pills.

We have enough on our plate being international playboys. Eliminate as many risks as possible. Get your vaccines.

[iknowexactly]

I'm trying to figure out how to get the vaccine here in giant unsanitary refrigerator uukairanei

[Aliblahba]

(02-18-2012 01:16 AM)iknowexactly Wrote:  

I'm trying to figure out how to get the vaccine here in giant unsanitary refrigerator uukairanei

Take a shot of absinthe. It's the next best thing.

[solo]

Tuberculosis prevalence rates by country

http://www.who.int/tb/country/data/profi...index.html

[DrainTree]

(02-19-2012 11:40 AM)solo Wrote:  

Tuberculosis prevalence rates by country

http://www.who.int/tb/country/data/profi...index.html

Nice to see the rates going down in recent years.

Still, its too common. 20 times as common as in the USA and antibiotic resistance is only increasing.